The goal of the Research Career Development Core (RCD Core) is to recruit, train, mentor, and[unreadable] develop future research leaders with skills in translational research and clinical investigation directed[unreadable] at exploring approaches to understand and modify multiple pathways of functional decline. Previous[unreadable] experience with our OAlC-supported Research Development Core has taught us that we must[unreadable] aggressively develop and recruit promising junior faculty to enter the field of aging research.[unreadable] Promising scientists will be recruited to develop and/or expand their investigative skills with an[unreadable] emphasis on translating basic research findings into clinical studies or, taking clinical research[unreadable] findings and posing new basic research questions. RCD Core awardees will take courses tailored to[unreadable] their specific career needs, receive mentoring from senior faculty members, and receive leadership[unreadable] training to prepare them for key positions in geriatrics and gerontology. Our mentoring plan is[unreadable] designed to motivate clinical investigators to explore basic research principles and basic scientists to[unreadable] interface with clinical researchers. The RCD Core will ensure that its awardees take advantage of[unreadable] other OAIC research cores and other experienced investigators at Duke University Medical Center.[unreadable] RCD Core awardees will participate in OAIC seminars and conferences where interdisciplinary[unreadable] investigators discuss their work. In these settings, ideas for translational collaborations are raised[unreadable] and discussed, resulting in new projects and studies. Close collaborative links with other programs[unreadable] and centers at Duke University will be available to RCD Core awardees, e.g., Duke Clinical Research[unreadable] Institute; Health Services Research Program, VAMC; Established Population for Epidemiologic[unreadable] Studies of the Elderly; RAND/Hartford Interdisciplinary Geriatric Health Care Center; the Institute for[unreadable] Genome Sciences and Policy, and the Duke University Medical Center Mentored Clinical Research[unreadable] Scholar Program (MSRSP). The RCD Core will help awardees develop interdisciplinary projects and[unreadable] use these programs, Center and Institutes to foster translational research studies. As has occurred[unreadable] over the past 14 years, with previous Pepper GRTC and OAIC support, the RCD Core will produce[unreadable] talented, well-trained investigators to help lead the next generation of scientists in the field of aging[unreadable] directed at positively reorienting trajectories of functional decline in older individuals.